Robert Weiss, age 12, of Hattiesburg, Miss., for his question:
WHERE DID CHICKENS ORIGINATE?
Scientists tell us that chickens originated from a type of wild fowl that was found in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Records show that man started to tame and raise these wild jungle chickens about 3,000 to 5,000 years ago.
The Chinese started raising chickens about 1400 B.C. Chicken raising slowly spread to all parts of the world.
There were no chickens in North and South America until the Spanish explorers brought them to the New World in the 1500s.
When colonists settled in the New England area, they brought chickens with them. There were flocks in Jamestown as early as 1607.
As the pioneers moved west, so did chicken raising. It wasn't until the early 1900s, however, that farms were established to raise only chickens. This poultry farm increased very quickly after 1925 with the discovery of the value of vitamins in chicken feed.
With new feeds, chickens could be raised indoors in winter egg production maintained throughout the year.
Scientific feeding and care have greatly increased the number of eggs chickens lay. Records show that the average hen laid about 100 eggs each year in the United States in 1940. By the early 1980s, egg production had risen to about 250 eggs per hen. And the rate is still climbing.
The average person in the U.S. and Canada eats close to 300 eggs and more than 50 pounds of chicken meat each year.
Farmers in the U.S. now raise more than three billion chickens every year. It is the age of a chicken, not its size that determines how it should be cooked. Most sold today are broilers and fryers. These males and females are about 10 to 12 weeks old when slaughtered.
Scientific feeding has made it possible to raise chickens weighing more than four pounds by the age of 10 weeks. Some farmers raise five crops of broilers each year.
Chickens kept until they are 4 to 6 months old are sold as roasters. Most of these are males because female chickens this old are kept for their eggs.
Old, tough chickens are sold for stewing. Most stewing chickens are hens past the egg laying age.
A young female chicken is called a pullet. She usually starts laying eggs when she is about 5 months old. Hens lay eggs at a high rate for about 14 months, after which their production usually declines.
It has been estimated that there are more than 300 million egg laying chickens on farms in the U.S. today.